I made an appearance at the Acme Supermarket in Ocean City, New Jersey this past weekend for the launch of Skinny Water throughout the entre 130-store chain. The display arranged by the manager, Jim, was outrageous and couldn’t be avoided. It was directly in view as you entered the store. And if by chance you were blind in one eye and missed the 6-foot high, pyramid-like, 2-pallet display or the cardboard cutout of yours truly, then the other eye would have surely seen the “Skinny Girls.”
Everyone associated with Skinny Water was psyched that not only were the Summer Olympic Games launched on 8/8/08, but Acme decided to use the same date to unveil our dynamite functional water with plenty of promotion and punch. They even included Skinny Water on the front cover of their weekly circular of 3 million copies.
The buzz in Acme circles started several weeks ago when I was invited by Skinny Water’s chairman, Michael Salaman, at the request of Acme’s Category Buyer, Eve Gigis, to provide a brief motivational speech to all of her store directors and managers when they convened for their regular summer meeting in Malvern, PA.
Eve was a big believer in our product from the beginning. And it was my role to demonstrate to the attendees – many of which knew of me – that they too should see the light. I spoke of believing the impossible to be possible. The belief that a physical therapist could go from the training room to the board room of a professional sports team. Impossible! The idea that an old school coach like Larry Brown and a hip hop hoopster named Allen Iverson could work together in harmony to advance our Sixers team to the NBA Finals. Impossible! The prayer of walking again on my own leg without a limp after my devastating motorcycle accident. Impossible! The dream of taking on the perennial category leader, the 4-billion-dollar Vitamin Water. Impossible!
Then I shared Napoleon Bonaparte’s quote: “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.”
Although my talk was more about the ability within in each of us to achieve what others say we can’t, I did subconsciously sell the benefits of Skinny Water – tastes great, no calories, infused with vitamins and antioxidants, and the special appetite suppressant ingredient. And oh yes, we will kick Vitamin Water’s ass!
It must have helped, because Eve was pleased with the feedback from her management team and their quest to help make Skinny Water an Acme favorite.
Thanks Eve and the Acme team.
The Acme in Paoli, PA.
The Acme in Limerick, PA.
The Acme in Narberth, PA.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 8:44 am by Pat Croce
Leave a Reply
August 12th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Love the photo! Great biceps shot Pat! Hey, for those of you who want to check out where to get Skinny Water, here’s their website. http://www.skinnywater.com/
I’ll be contacting the local Target Stores in the Seattle area to tell them to get on board with the rest of the country and start stocking those shelves with Skinny Water! Rock on.
Lee Witt
August 12th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
You’re the man Lee…Attack!
August 15th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Thanks for the website info…I will make it a point to go out and try some.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I just bought some skinny water at Acme on sale this week (10 for $10). It’s great…
Now it’s time for Skinny Water to consider bigger sized containers.
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hope to see this at a WAWA soon!